1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a skating shoe, particularly a roller or ice skating shoe, comprising a shell defining an interior space for receiving a foot and including a sole, a shaft connected to the shell and projecting therefrom for receiving a portion of a leg extending from the foot, a heat-insulating layer, such as an inner sole, extending along the sole and facing the interior space, and tensioning elements affixed to the shell and the shaft for tightening the shell and the shaft about a foot and leg portion received in the interior space and the shell.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Published German patent application No. 3,911,899 discloses a skating shoe with skating rollers and/or ice skating blades arranged sequentially in the longitudinal direction and a carrier frame for the rollers, which is affixed to the sole. If the shoe is to be used for ice skating, the fastening elements for the carrier frame must be loosened and a carrier frame with an ice skating blade must be attached to the shoe sole, making the retrofitting for the selected use of the shoe time-consuming and inconvenient. In addition, the stability is reduced after a few such mountings and dismountings, which may make the shoe unfit for wear.
Published European patent application No. 295,081 discloses a shoe equipped with a carrier housing for rollers on the underside of the sole. The carrier housing is a shaped element which may be of injection molded synthetic resin or cast metal and has means for receiving bearings for the rollers and mounting plates for attachment to the sole. Its stability is enhanced by arranging ribs extending transversely to the shoe between the rollers. This skating shoe, too, requires anchoring means in the shoe sole for the fastening elements of the carrier housing, and the sole has to be reinforced to absorb the lateral forces exerted on the sole through the anchoring means. Therefore, these shoes are quite heavy, which makes their wear for any length of time uncomfortable.
Published German patent application No. 3,513,022 also discloses a skating shoe equipped with sequentially arranged rollers exchangeable for ice skating blades. The sole has projecting anchoring elements received in correspondingly shaped housing elements for rollers or skating blades. Manufacturing tolerances cause unequal wear and corresponding misfits in the anchoring elements and the correspondingly shaped housing elements after long-time use, which causes deviations in the roller position and correspondingly unsafe operating conditions.